Freedom in Christ (via evangelism.net)

Unfortunately, many new believers understand that they are reconciled with God, but seldom are taught what that also means for their life right now.

God has a great freedom in mind for every person on earth – that’s the freedom to know as we get up every morning that we have a relationship with Him. That relationship makes heaven our home forever, and gives us power to live in freedom here on earth, no matter what our circumstances may be.

The Bible says that when we trusted Christ for our salvation some amazing things happened – immediately – and simultaneously. Here are a few of the results of salvation that relate to living a life full of freedom. Over 33 categories are identified by Lewis Sperry Chafer in his book Salvation: God’s Marvelous Work of Grace.

1. You were reconciled to God so you could have a relationship with Him: “He has delivered us form the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1: 13,14)

2. You are a new creation and can live differently than you lived before your salvation: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

3. You can walk by a new life principle from now on: “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. ” (Colossians 2: 6-7)

4. The Holy Spirit comes into relationship with you and helps you to live a life that is increasingly Christlike. These characteristics of Christlikeness are called “fruit”. As you learn more about how to live through studying the Bible, praying, and worshiping in a Bible-believing church, walking with mature believers, this fruit will be more and more evident in your life. Of course, that is only if you want to be more like Christ and want to be obedient to what God wants, trying to do what is pleasing to God.

The list is found in Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…”. What a great way to live! People will happily notice the new you, believe me!

5. God makes a way for you to escape from the temptation to sin. We still sin after we become a Christ-follower. Most of us have habitual sins or maybe we are just beginning to recognize some sins that we do that hurt others and ourselves. Sin wrecks our relationships, our sense of identity, our ability to tell right from wrong, and results in very negative consequences.

While God makes a way for us to be forgiven if we sin after we have been saved (1 John 1:9), He desires that we not sin and has given us this promise, “…God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians: 10:13)

Most Christ-followers are growing in freedom bit by bit. If you read the Gospels in the New Testament you will learn about Jesus, who He is, what He did and why it matters. But if you read the book of Acts and the Epistles, you’ll see how new Christ-followers struggled, and tried, and tried again to shake off old habits, ways of thinking, and harmful personal traits. The apostle Peter, after all, denied that he even knew Christ three times! The apostle Paul, had persecuted Christ-followers before he was saved! Some of the other disciples argued over and over about how to be the most important in the Lord’s kingdom. But God changed them when they came to Him.

By their desire to be obedient to God, through the grace of God, and the work of the Holy Spirit, they, and the Christ-followers who came after them, grew closer and closer to God. So they grew spiritually…and so can we. As we do, we are more and more free to love Him and others, and to be someone that the Lord will use to serve others. That is true freedom.